What Is The Federal Bankruptcy Court?
When you file a bankruptcy case to be considered you file it with the federal bankruptcy court. Even though the state can have laws that affect bankruptcy all bankruptcy cases are handled by the federal bankruptcy court and the judges in the federal bankruptcy court make the final decisions on bankruptcy cases. Those decisions can be appealed to either the district court or the bankruptcy appellate court but in the case of a the federal bankruptcy court there is no jury and the decisions of the judge are final.
The federal bankruptcy court is a section of the federal court system and they are directly attached to the United States District Court system. The federal bankruptcy court is a court under the district court and the district court has jurisdiction over the bankruptcy court. So of the district court decided that they want to hear a bankruptcy case instead of referring it to the federal bankruptcy court then they have that power. However most of the 94 districts in the United States have standing orders that all bankruptcy cases must be referred to the federal bankruptcy court. While the district court leaves their options open a huge majority of the bankruptcy cases heard in the United States federal court system are heard by and ruled in a federal bankruptcy court within the district.
Here Comes Da Judge
The judges in the federal bankruptcy court are appointed by the court of appeals for the circuit in which the district applies. The terms last for 14 years and the bankruptcy judges together all make up a single unit within the United States district court for which they are assigned. There is no such thing as a state bankruptcy judge as all bankruptcy matters are filed as federal events and the judges that hear the bankruptcy cases are all federally appointed judges.
In some cases the state laws do apply to a bankruptcy case. When a lien against a property is in question that it is a state law that governs something like that. When the decisions are being made as to what property is not to be part of a bankruptcy and exposed to creditors then that is a state law as well. Even though a bankruptcy decision is a federal court decision do not forget that some state laws apply as well and many of those state laws are not the same from state to state so doing proper research will help you prepare for bankruptcy in your particular state.
